Croí, the west of Ireland Heart and Stroke Charity, is one of two Irish pilot projects to participate in the EU Joint Action on Cardiovascular Diseases and Diabetes (JACARDI ), funded under the EU4Health programme.
Running from 2023 to 2027 with a €53?million budget and 76 partners across 21 countries, JACARDI partners are implementing 142 pilot projects across Europe. This is a landmark opportunity for Croí and the HSE to communicate with and learn from experts in the prevention of cardiovascular disease and diabetes across Europe.
Within the Irish JACARDI contingent coordinated by the Health Service Executive (HSE ), Croí is leading a pilot project focused on patient self-management, called Healthy Hearts Club. This initiative complements the HSE-led STOP-CVD pilot programme which focuses on screening people at high risk to improve ways of preventing heart disease.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD ) remains the leading cause of death globally, with many of these deaths occurring prematurely. Although treatments and lifestyle changes can lower the risk of repeat events, many individuals with heart disease face challenges in reaching key health targets, such as managing blood pressure.
Following more than one year of development and building on Croí’s experience designing and delivering self-management programmes targeting heart disease and stroke prevention, Croí is about to begin the first induction of patients into the Healthy Hearts Club. This community-based programme aims to support people who have experienced a heart event such as a heart attack to manage risk factors like high blood pressure and low physical activity over the long-term.
People who have attended cardiac rehabilitation through the HSE in Galway will be invited to take part in the Healthy Hearts Club programme for six months and participate in a research project evaluating the programme.
Dr Susan Connolly, a consultant cardiologist in University Hospital Galway and Galway City Integrated Care Hub, is leading the HSE cardiac rehabilitation collaboration with Croí on this project. As the lead clinician for the Regional Demonstration Project in Implementation of the Model of Care for Cardiac Rehabilitation, Dr Connolly is enthusiastic about this opportunity to investigate long-term supports for people; “Cardiac rehabilitation is a life-saving treatment for patients after a cardiovascular event and also improves quality of life," she said.
"But once patients finish cardiac rehabilitation it is so important that they sustain the healthy changes and control of their risk factors achieved during their CR programme in the longer term. The Healthy Hearts Club project as part of JACARDI is a wonderful opportunity to develop a support model for our patients to help them do exactly that and be part of a European conversation to improve cardiovascular health”.
Healthy Hearts Club participants will link regularly with a nurse for ongoing guidance and support and be invited to take part in group workshops and courses focused on building their personal exercise routine, healthy eating, emotional wellbeing, and heart disease risk factors. The programme length, activities related to a wide range of risk factors including emotional wellbeing, and peer support are important features intended to effectively meet the needs of participants. By inviting people to join the Healthy Hearts Club soon after completing cardiac rehabilitation we aim to offer an environment that enables people to build on the achievements they have made and integrate habits and routines into their daily lives.
The evaluation will involve up to 160 people and aims to examine the impact of the Healthy Hearts Club programme and ways to improve the programme for ongoing delivery and will inform scalable models of self?management that can improve patient outcomes in Ireland and across Europe. The long-term sustainability of the programme is one of two key pillars of JACARDI, as well as equity and diversity. Approaches to the design and delivery of the Healthy Hearts Club and sharing of the evaluation findings are driven by these pillars.
Building on Croí’s previous work delivering self-management support programmes online such as the Croí MySláinte programme, the project will also explore opportunities and preferences for digital health tools to support people with heart disease to maintain their heart health.
“Croí is delighted to lead Ireland’s self-management pilot under JACARDI,” said Dr Lisa Hynes, Croí head of health programmes “We believe empowering people with the tools and knowledge to manage their own health is at the core of sustainable, person-centred care.”
“Our collaboration with HSE and EU JACARDI partners underlines our shared mission: to improve outcomes for people living with heart disease, and to translate meaningful research into real-world improvements in services and supports.”
For further information on JACARDI see www.jacardi.eu or croi.ie/jacardi
